The influence media has on its consumers through linguistic choices
Language is the most powerful tool. It has the potential to cause war and conflicts and also bring peace. As you unfold the deep layers of language, you tend to become immune to it. Most of us provide this power to the english language, mostly unknowingly, and the people in power uses this loophole for their own personal benefits and gains. Media plays a major role in directing its consumer- it has the ability to influence its consumers and the only tool is language. It is through the linguistic choices that we are moulded by mass media.
Oftentimes, the media helps form a new set of words which are unknowingly inherited by us into our vocabulary. An example for this can be the exposure of mass media via the internet on most of the millennial today. There exists a set of words coined by the pop culture that people use in their day to day lives.
An example of the source for this set of terminologies could be “Buzzfeed”, an independent media house, through their quirky and witty content involves the use of slang- in order to resonate with its target audience- mostly focussing on the millennial.
The social media is changing the language we use on a day-to-day basis.
A pool of new vocabulary entailing acronyms, abbreviations and neologisms developed making technologically mediated communication easier for us to understand. Emoticons and acronyms add useful elements of non-verbal communication, helping people connect virtually. The various media outlets influence their language in such a way that it targets the specific set of individuals consuming it. The internet is filled with examples of this. The content(here I am focusing on the linguistic aspect of the content) on the internet is primarily moulded for a niche audience such that the vocabulary used there is only adapted and understood by them. Through pop culture we have been acquainted to various new and altered words that either have different meanings or creates an alternate psychological and therefore, social effect. Eg. many words of english language like “queen” is replaced by “kween”, “yes” replaced by“yaas”,“tru” instead of true. Social media-through the use of slangs, acronyms and emojis influences our language and the way we speak and communicate with one-another. Media has also given rise to new words and words with different meanings e.g. A “troll” isn’t just a fictional character but also an anonymous person (user) forming insulting and offensive content against individuals on the internet. Online platforms like “Facebook” and “Youtube” have offered new meanings to common words such as “like, status, subscribe” etc.
This has been noticed in case of advertisements as they use language, arguments, symbols, and intonations for children. Such communication makes people less critical.
Mainstream media, manipulates its language, influencing its audience so that the consumer’s viewpoint resonates with theirs.
There is a sensationalism attached to the labelling of news when it comes to mainstream media. Political news largely have a bias attached to them. Major news outlets have certain opinions and views when it comes to covering political news and oftentimes impose those thoughts on its viewers through clever linguistic choices that supports their ideologies. A great example of this could be “Last Week Tonight by John Oliver”. The entire show is entirely focused on the journalist’s ideologies and supports his viewpoints. Through the use of language, John Oliver makes his viewers believe in his thoughts and viewpoints entirely so much so that the viewer is not left with any other choice but to believe in the journalist.
Here is an example two mainstream media, with the same headline, portrayed differently;
“The Guardian: Migrants ‘willing to die’ to reach UK
The Guardian here uses the term “migrants” showcasing the extremes people are willing to go to in order to survive. Daily Mail, on the other hand, focusses on clickbait by using the term “Immigrants”. It tries to use language as a tool to get its readers to click on the article.
As George Orwell once said “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give solidarity to pure wind”. Many political parties and leaders can also be accused of using their linguistic knowledge so as to mould and influence the thoughts of the entire nation according to their preference. Let us understand this by looking at how Donald Trump answers a simple question at an interview. The question asked to him was about the discrimination faced by the people in America based on their religion. “His response was a 220 word long answer, with 172 words being one syllable long- forming a rhythmic series, with repetition of words like ‘dead’, ‘harm’ etc. Only 39 words were two syllables and 4 words were three syllable long. Out of this, there was a recurring sentence throughout it- ‘get down to the problem”.
(The data has been extracted from the video that has been hyperlinked)
In his entire answer, he supported his case of discrimination in the name of religion and justified his stance. The usage of one syllable words, highlighting certain terminologies and using key words makes it easier for the audience to understand the language and thus resonates with them, even though it doesn’t align with an impartial and just treatment.
Through the use of language, mainstream media manipulates its content so as to grab more attention and get as many people to consume their content as possible.
This often takes away the authenticity and commercialises it. Another reason why misleading headlines are created and quite common these days is because they pass as clickbait. You open it thinking it would be something interesting but end up finding no content relating to the headline provided. A very controversial example of misleading headlines by main stream Indian media was the widespread controversy surrounding Kanhaiya Kumar, president of JNU Students’ Union. “Taken out of context, Kumar’s quotes were made to appear synonymous with the usual rhetorical dugs that Congress party spokesperson take at the BJP. Without any reference to the context, the media headlines appeared to be deliberately misleading or misdirecting.” as quoted by an article from The Wire suggests or rather questions the very nature of mainstream media, how and to what lengths can it go just to get views and grab attention. According to the argument, Kumar drew distinctions between the riots in 1984, when the ruling party was Congress and the 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat under Narendra Modi’s ruling period as well as the Emergency in 1975- However he was also quoted saying “Today we have to stand in defence of democracy and not to support one party or another. We have to protect public university and public sector.” which was his main agenda during his entire speech. However, the entire speech was taken out of context and it was suggested by the media that “Kanhaiya Kumar says 1984 was different from 2002.”
The entire point is that media uses language as a weapon and a tool of manipulation. They hold the power to influence us subliminally- we are unable to notice it. The choice of the words used can make a huge difference on how a reader might perceive that piece of information. Visualisation (in the reader’s mind) is a product of the language used, one can build a different image in their heads if the language used is divergent in nature. It is ultimately up to the readers and the consumers of this mass media to make a conscious decision and understand the fact that language holds utmost power and it is through this language that the media tries to influence them, hindering their intellectual capacity, making their visions blurry.
